Wild North America 1846

Chapter 270 The Happy Life of Immigrants

1857th day of April [-]

The Kingdom's new appointment has been issued; in view of the outstanding achievements of Baron Dong Jie, Minister of the Colonial Department, in the affairs of pioneering Paradise Island, his outstanding ability, noble character, and worthy of reuse, His Majesty personally appointed the post of Chief of the Royal Secretariat and Minister of the Royal Court, hereby Retired as Secretary of State for the Colonies, to be renominated by the Prime Minister of the Cabinet.

After the warm celebration ceremony, Baron Dong Jie took his family and a group of confidantes on board the cruise ship back to the mainland of the Kingdom. With the sound of long whistles, the cruise ship gradually left the harbor and looked back at the bustling city standing on the bay. , could not help but burst into tears.

More than 700 people have worked hard day and night, lighting up lamps and lanterns, creating a bright future for Paradise Island today.

The two years seemed like a dream, Dong Jie looked at the beautiful and prosperous city in front of him, a strong sense of accomplishment filled his chest, and felt that he had achieved his life's ambitions, which was enough to be gratified.

The cruise ship blew its whistle and sailed away from the pier, heading towards the deep blue sea, and took away Baron Dong Jie who was deeply attached to this hot land. After a while, he should be called Viscount Dong Jie...

Watching the cruise ship leave, the high-ranking officials and dignitaries who were seeing off at the pier and the female relatives who attended in costumes exchanged greetings for a while, and then scattered away in luxurious carriages.

The noble ladies in luxurious dresses and holding umbrellas attracted the fiery eyes of many men around them, and it was almost impossible to take them back.

"Don't look at the second treasure. They are all the young mistresses of rich families. Those of us farmers who face the loess and back to the sky, don't think about it for the rest of our lives."

"Brother Lei, it is said that these nobles from the Tang Kingdom used to be there like us, but they came a few years earlier. We don't lack arms or legs, and we don't lack blood and courage. Why can't we compare with them?"

"What you said is correct! But these nobles are the group of people who follow His Majesty to fight the world. They have sweated and bled, and they are lucky to get ahead. It is not easy now."

"What's not easy... Why don't you just join the army and fight? I can do it too."

"Er Treasure, you are talking nonsense again, let others hear it and still not die of laughter? Now in this peaceful time, there is no conscription or war. The whole Paradise Island is the emperor's estate of the Holy One, and even the local aborigines have been wiped out. , where is the battle to fight?"

"Hmph, anyway, I just don't want to be reconciled." The person who spoke was a thick-headed young man in his twenties named Wu Erbao, who came from Guilin, the most beautiful place in the world. It has been two years since he arrived at Paradise Island, and he has obtained a formal household registration.

In the relaxed living environment of the Tang Kingdom, hearing about the fortune-telling history of one refugee after another, some around you, and some in the Kingdom itself, always makes people excited, and the desire in their hearts is ready to move.

Not only Wu Erbao, but almost all young and middle-aged immigrants have their own dreams.

Lei Ge was older, about 26 or seven years old. He patted Wu Erbao on the shoulder and said with a smile; Buy some useful land reclamation tools on the street, there are so many things to do, you can’t stand here for a long time, can you? Do you still want your share of land?”

"Of course I have to, otherwise, wouldn't my two years of work be in vain?"

"Your Majesty didn't treat you badly, he gave you 90 mu of land (the Chinese are used to using public acres), tsk tsk tsk...I'm so envious after seeing it!"

Hearing what Lei Ge said, Wu Erbao showed a happy smile from the heart, parted his mouth, and smiled and said with white teeth; We, how to do things, can't stand out from the top, the citrons that stand out will rot first, and save [-]% of the work and leave [-]% of the strength, then it will be a great thing to fall into the sky, do you regret it now?"

"It's a pity that there is no medicine for regret in the world. Who knew that His Majesty would be so generous and benevolent, that if you work harder, you will really give more to Tian? Now I can't wait to work for two more years." Lei Ge looked remorseful.

He is older, and has been working as a long-term worker in his hometown since he was 13 years old. He has to work from dawn to dusk. He can only get two meals of gruel a day, and he never sees any meat all year round.

After working as a long-term worker for more than ten years, he couldn't even marry a wife. He was so poor that he became a thief. He was one of countless farmers who fled in panic.

He fled to Fuzhou Port, passed the immigration screening by chance, and was able to board the immigration ship to Paradise Island. From then on, he opened a different life path.

During the two-year contract work in Paradise Island, I had one meal and two thin meals a day. It doesn’t matter if it’s good but it’s full, and it can be improved once a week. There is meat, which is basically pig offal soup, beef offal soup and other cheap goods, or just A piece of salted fish, this is already a dreamy day, I really didn't even dare to think about it before.

Contract workers are not given a penny. Each person is given one yuan per month to buy some daily necessities or snacks. There are also rewards for good performance. For example, "advanced workers" like Wu Erbao can get 1 yuan a month. Block 2 cents.

Don't look too much at just [-] cents, but it makes many people jealous.

Among the Chinese immigrants, very few people use this dollar to buy snacks or daily necessities, and basically save it.

In two years, it is estimated that 20% to [-]% of Chinese immigrants have saved more than [-] yuan, and very few prodigal sons have exhausted their money.

Everyone is looking forward to owning their own piece of land in the future, opening up wasteland and farming, marrying a woman who farms and women weaves, has children and spreads branches and leaves for the family, and lives a happy life without shame or shame.

In order to realize their dreams, Chinese immigrants can endure all kinds of hardships.

Two days later

Lei Ge and Wu Erbao took the large and small bags of luggage and got on the train to Wuxing Town with their companions. It took more than 6 hours to arrive at the destination, which was a desolate small station outside the valley.

Wuxing Town is about 188 kilometers away from New Xi’an. It is one of the planned resettlement towns. Counting from the suburbs of New Xi’an, the railway goes eastward along the seaside plain. Town, five-star town to sixteen-star town, all are new resettlement towns.

Today's railway has just been built to Liuxing Town, and the road builders are also Chinese immigrants. They are going deep into the mountains and forests to build roads and bridges, and they are the pioneers of pioneering.

Both Lei Ge and Wu Erbao have done this job, and it is actually simple. It is nothing more than building the railway embankment first, and then compacting the compound soil over and over again to form a long railway embankment.

To build a culvert in a place where the water passes is to dig a hole on the roadbed, build a culvert with bricks or stones, and then smooth it with cement. The firmer the better.

Building bridges is a bit more complicated, which is probably what it means. Build bridge piers with bricks and stones, and then erect steel girders. This kind of bridge construction is the fastest, and it can basically be formed in three to four months.

The construction speed of the round arch bridge made entirely of stone blocks is much slower, often taking a year or more to complete.

After that, it is paving concrete, laying rails, and fixing and connecting long railway lines with sleepers. This kind of work is not difficult and can be done quickly. As long as the materials are sufficient, more than a thousand people can pave more than ten kilometers in one day, and there is basically no pressure. .

Lei Ge and Wu Erbao got off the train with the crowd, looking at a large piece of open land by the side of the valley, covered with various lime lines, and there was a large stake tree more than three meters high, on which was written with a brush. There are three big characters of "Five Star Town".

Everyone is an old hand. One can see from this scene that the future Wuxing Town will be located here, only about 2 kilometers away from the railway station. There are about dozens of wooden buildings built in the town, almost all of which are semi-finished products. It didn't take long to start construction, and no building was completed.

come to town
The place where the Tuanlong flag is planted is the office. There is only a row of simple desks in the office, and the clerk shouted loudly with a tin horn in his hand: "All immigrants go through the formalities here, and all line up one by one. Jump in the queue and disturb the order, otherwise you will be disqualified and you will bear the consequences..."

The clerk repeated it over and over again, and the migrants quickly lined up in a long queue carrying large and small packages, and then moved forward slowly.

They have become accustomed to this way of queuing. They have to queue up for meals every day during collective labor, queue up to receive a one-yuan monthly subsidy, queue up to get clothes (4 sets of clothes per person per year, either white or gray), and queue up to go to the toilet in the morning. .

Public defecation is not allowed in collective life, which pollutes the environment, and human and animal manure must be used for composting. It is the best thing to improve the fields and should not be wasted.

The team moved very fast, and it was Lei Ge and Wu Erbao's turn after about half an hour. They imitated the people in front of them and took out their resident registration booklet and a land grant certificate, and came to a row of simple tables.

"Give me the land grant certificate and the household registration book." Said the clerk sitting at the desk.

Wu Erbao hurriedly handed over the certificate in his hand, and after taking it, the clerk checked that the name of the household registration book and the land grant certificate were the same, and deliberately flipped through the land grant certificate back and forth, looked up at Wu Erbao with a smile, and asked; " Hey, I can't tell, he is still an excellent worker, would you like to join the militia?"

"Yes, of course."

"Do you know how to read?"

"I know a few, not many, and I can barely understand the meaning of the newspaper."

"Okay then, you can fill out this militia application form."

"Okay!"

Wu Erbao happily took the pen, bent down and began to fill it out seriously. Standing beside him, Lei Ge was a little envious, so he took the initiative to ask: "Well... sir, I also want to join the militia, can I also fill out a form?" ?”

"You..." The clerk picked up his land grant certificate and looked at it, curled his lips and said; "No, you are not an excellent worker, and your performance is not outstanding. You are not qualified to join the militia. Our Wuxing Town militia Only the best people."

Rego; "..."

Within a few minutes, Wu Erbao filled out the application form for the militia. After the clerk registered it for him, he stamped it with a red seal. One of the teams said; "You go to the first team, and you won't be able to move around after you get in."

"Oh, I see, thank you sir." Wu Erbao thanked hurriedly.

Seeing that his formalities had been completed, Lei Ge quickly asked, "Sir, am I also in the first line?"

"What's the first team you're in? Doesn't it say 17 on the wooden sign? You're in the 17th team."

"But...Erbao is my little brother, we two want to live next door from now on, so we can take care of each other."

"Hehe... that's impossible."

"why?"

"Why?" The clerk was amused by his question, stood up simply, took over the big iron horn and shouted to the crowd;

"Folks! Listen to me, everyone.

After that, everyone just stand still and listen to me. If you are in the queue, don’t move, just listen. Let me explain the land allocation policy to you.

After I finish speaking, you can ask questions if you don't understand.

After completing the formalities, everyone will be issued a small wooden sign. If your wooden sign says "1", then you will be in the first line.

If "11" is written on your wooden sign, then you will be in the 11th team. The sign in your hand must be consistent with the number of the team, and you must not make a mistake.

You can ask if you don't understand, and you can ask if you don't know the words. There are numbers in capital letters in front of each team.

From the first team to the fifth team, they are all "excellent laborers". Some of them are awarded 100 mu of land, some are awarded 80 mu of land, and some are awarded 75 mu of land. These outstanding laborers can choose to join the militia team, the others did not meet the requirements.

Among these "excellent workers", according to the rules of granting land, whoever has made the most contribution will choose his own field first, and those with 100 mu have priority over those with 80 mu, those with 80 mu have priority over 75 mu, and so on.

If several people have land grant certificates of 75 mu, then draw lots to determine the winner, or adopt a method that you think is fair, and try to satisfy everyone.

All the plots around Wuxing Town have been divided up for everyone to choose from, but the places closest to Wuxing Town are basically the land of the first to fifth teams of "excellent laborers".

All personnel who are no longer within the scope of "excellent workers" will be grouped randomly, with a distance of about three to five kilometers, and a distance of about ten kilometers, and a maximum of no more than 20 kilometers.

After arriving at the place, there will naturally be staff explaining to you how to obtain the land.

For example, there are 11 people in the 170th team. After arriving, there will be specific arrangements by the staff, and the supervision will be fair and just throughout the process.

The basic principle is first come first served.

Each person sends out a small flag, and 170 people set off to run at the same time. There is also a small flag on the marked land. You just need to pull out the small flag and put your own small flag on it, then this land belongs to you. up.

Since we have issued 170 small flags, we will inevitably set aside 170 lots of land, each of which is ten acres, that is, 60 acres of land.

Of course

There are good and bad land. The land farther away from the river and stream is of course more fertile. It is more difficult to open up some land full of trees. Which one you can get depends on your ability.

Generally speaking

As long as you are fellow villagers or partners who are willing to live together, I can tell our staff that we will try our best to put you in a team, and you will be villagers in a village in the future.

Even if they don't live together, they will not be far apart, and try to provide convenience for everyone.

But in some cases, it will not work. For example, one of the two people is an "excellent laborer". According to the rules, 90 acres of fertile land near Wuxing Town can be obtained as a reward.

The other is an ordinary immigrant with a land grant certificate of only 60 mu of land. The two cannot be resettled together.

Unless this "excellent laborer" is willing to give up his rights and does not need 90 acres of land near Wuxing Town, instead of going to a remote area to compete for [-] acres of land, then as long as he writes an application stating that he is completely voluntary, we can also satisfy Such a wish.

The reverse is not possible, because the surrounding land of Wuxing Town is used to resettle "excellent workers", and ordinary immigrants do not enjoy such preferential treatment.

One pay, one gain, this is fair. "

After saying this

The surrounding immigrants showed various expressions, some regretted, some were happy, some were sad, some were secretly unhappy, and some directly cursed out of distorted mood.

The staff member's face became serious, and he pointed at a rude and strong man who was cursing not far away and said sharply; "Bold and lunatic, you dare to speak evil words to slander the kingdom, so I took it and put it in custody."

The voice just fell
Several militiamen rushed forward, knocked the rude and strong man who couldn't bear the swear words to the ground, and tied him tightly with hemp rope.

The rude and strong man faltered directly, frightened his wet pants, and begged loudly; "Sir, please forgive me for being careless, I know I was wrong."

"Gag me, it's fucking disgusting. How is a person like you who doesn't know how to be grateful different from a beast?" The staff looked at him with disgust. He was a grassroots official from Taoyuan School of Administration. In his social experience, he has already developed a rough and direct work style.

The immigrant group is so huge, it is inevitable that there are filth in it, mixed with some green-skinned hooligans and acrimonious villains, some were sorted out during the two-year contract period, and some will continue to be sorted out when the land is allocated.

Those who dare to complain, those who attack the kingdom's policies with obscene words, those who gather to make trouble, those who play tricks and cheat, and those who do not obey the distribution and pester unreasonably are all within the scope of strict control and crackdown.

The staff's blatant attack really had an immediate deterrent effect. Without a word, Lei Ge went to the 17th team with his ID and wooden sign, as obedient as a little sheep.

The other people are not forced to chatter anymore, there are even fewer whispers, and the administrative efficiency has been greatly improved, so that you can queue for whichever team you are in, and you feel that your quality has improved a lot.

Soon, the crowd getting off the train was divided into more than a dozen teams, each team had a staff member holding a flag in front, followed by a large group of immigrants, queuing up to the narrow road in the distance.

Some teams in the outer suburbs have to walk through the forest, over the mountains, and across the river, at least half a day.

Wu Erbao's first team didn't need it, and started to divide the fields in Wuxing Town. After the first seven or eight people were selected, it was Wu Erbao's turn. His 90 mu of land ranked quite high.

Outside the 6 square kilometers designated by the township, next to the riverside of Wuxing Town, he chose a fertile land that is flat and fertile without many trees, and he felt extremely satisfied.

People rely on comparison. Compared with most other immigrants, Wu Erbao's sense of happiness is overwhelming at this moment.

Here, from now on, will be his land and home.

It is next to Wuxing Town. He has inquired about the wooden houses being built in Wuxing Town. A two-story wooden building with upstairs and downstairs costs 220 yuan, and a bungalow costs 145 yuan.

Wu Erbao has already considered it. Instead of buying a house for the time being, he will buy a cattle for 185 yuan, plus matching iron plowshares and other agricultural tools, a total of 228 yuan. The money he has saved is just enough.

Because an excellent worker can get a loan of 28 yuan in the bank, plus the [-] yuan he has saved, it will all work.

Anyway, the climate in Wuxing Town is neither cold nor hot. During the period of pioneering, we set up a shack to live in the wild, and tried to spend 4 to 5 months to plow the entire land, remove gravel, shrubs and roots, and expose them to the sun for more than ten years. Days later it was raked, riddled and planted with wheat and vegetable seeds.

In the rest of the time, you can use cattle to help your neighbors reclaim wasteland and earn an extra income. If you have money, you can pay taxes first and then repay the loan. After two years of hard work, you can pay off the loan first, and then think about building a house and marrying a wife later. Qi is alive.

Thinking about owning 90 mu of fertile land and the location is so good, Wu Erbao couldn't help but feel happy, his face is full of smiles all day long, and the future life is very happy!

(End of this chapter)